Easton
EA90 XC UST 29er
Wheelset

Product Description

Easton EA90 XC wheels were designed for competitive trail riding and cross country racing. The welded EA90 aluminum rims keeps an airtight UST seal right out of the box (no need to mess with rim strips or sealant to turn these tubeless). The 19mm rim widt

User Reviews

i m sick with the bearings.... , the cassette are loose..... looks great... i love it but i hate the rear hub and cassete body.... i hope they fix that problem.....

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
kermit_xc
a All Mountain Rider

Date Reviewed: January 8, 2013

Strengths: lightweight, strong, stiff, UST, looks

Weaknesses: width - but than again, thats what HAVEN's are for

Bottom Line:

The only reason I bought those wheels was the fact that they were available at a LBA on a saturday afternoon - I simply couldn't wait for a wheelset of my choice (Flows on hadley hubs). I am 230lbs and was a little worried that those wheels will not handle my weight and riding style to well - oh wrong I was.

Strengths: - Lightweight and sharp looking wheelset
- Wheels have stayed very true and spoke tension is great after about a year of riding

Weaknesses: - Bearings. After about a year of XC riding, all of the cartridge bearings (4 total) in the rear hub have worn out and need to be replaced.

Bottom Line:

I love these wheels and as stated above, they have performed great during a year of XC riding and a couple of races. I recently noticed some grinding/clunking noise which I thought was coming from the bottom bracket area, but I ultimately chased the noise down to the rear hub area. Upon removing and spinning the wheel while holding the axle in my hands, it was very obvious that something was wrong due to the vibrations I could feel and how "grabby" the wheel was with the axle. I disassembled the hub and inspected the two bearings in the hub body...the non-drive bearing felt like it was full of rocks and the drive side was just OK. Also, the two bearings in the cassette body were only marginally better. I contacted Easton customer service and they were very friendly and offered to fix the wheel or ship the parts to me. I opted for the parts and they actually sent me more parts than I expected so that was nice. My LBS is pressing in the new bearings for me, but I do worry that I'll be doing this again in another year. Again, I like these wheels and appreciate Easton's customer service, but am a bit disappointed the bearings failed in such a short time. Once I get the repaired wheel back, I will be much more attentive to inspecting and maintaining the hub, although I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that sealed cartridge bearings were essentially maintenance free.

Weaknesses: Can be a pain to air up ans seat TLR tires, but once they are on, they seal up pretty well. (This is true of most UST rims)

Bottom Line:

The truth is that I have only done a couple rides on these wheels, but I am very pleased. My stock wheelset (replaced after 75 miles) would never hold true, dish, or spoke tension) Specialized told me to take a hike????

I am 220, very powerful and after a couple rides on techy singletrack and stand up climbs, these wheels have stayed perfect. They spin up pretty and are surprisingly stiff under me. These will be may race wheels and I will probably do most of my training on some cheaper Fulcrum Heavy wheels. Will update review after some more mi8les and testing...

I also got lucky and found these for a pretty good price online from an authorized dealer, so I am pretty happy.

I was going between these and the Havens, glad I went with these for the weight savings. Really light and stronger than I expected. They climb great, strong on decents. I weigh 200lbs and pushed it pretty hard down Apex in Golden (downhill worthy trail), and also wrecked in a manner that landed all of my weight on the back of the wheel while the bike was laying on it's side....no problems. These wheels are awesome for their intended purpose, even for the heavier XC riders.

Weaknesses: setting up tubeless was kind of a pain (non-UST tire), but still got it on.

Bottom Line:

Glad their making super light 29er wheels now. Just by upgrading to these wheels, took almost 2 lbs off of my Mavic TN719 rims+x9 hubs. These look great and roll fast. Hubs seem strong, little flex. No issues w/ strenth so far, but have only had for 3-4 months. So far, excellent wheels. I had some trouble setting up non tubeless ready IKONs,but that should be expected. I hear setting up tubeless ready tires are a breeze. No leaks since they popped on though.